The Easter - Good Friday - Passover Connection

Today is Good Friday. Good Friday takes its name from a now obsolete English sense, which means pious or great. Good Friday is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. Three days later, on Easter Sunday, as legend has it, Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the synoptic gospels. These gospels often recount the same stories about Jesus, generally follow the same sequence and use similar wording. These synoptic gospels say that the Last Supper of Jesus was, in fact, a Passover meal, since Jesus and his disciples were Jews.

In the story of the Exodus, the Bible tells that God inflicted ten plagues upon the Egyptians before Pharaoh would release his Israelite slaves, with the tenth plague being the killing of firstborn sons. The Hebrews were instructed to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a spring lamb and, upon seeing this, the spirit of the Lord passed over these homes, hence the term "passover".

The holiday of Pesach, or Passover, falls on the Hebrew calendar dates of Nissan 15-22. That is April 6-14 in 2012.